Cross Country Competes at Northeast Regionals

Andrew Houghtalen

Nov 12, 2011

Buffalo, NY - The Men's and Women's Cross Country teams both finished their seasons Saturday at the NCAA Northeast Regionals at the Audubon Golf Course. The women came away with a 24th overall team finish out of 36 teams and the men were an incomplete team as only three people finished.

Even though the men's team has been sidetracked by injury and illness this season, they did enjoy some great individual success on Saturday. Connelly and Lusignan recorded the program's best 1-2 finish ever in a regional meet. Connelly's place finish, 77th, was their best individual finish ever, surpassing the 93rd place finish recorded by Tyler Arnett in 2005. Lusignan's 96th place is the third best place finish ever by a Sacred Heart athlete, topping Matthew Uzenski's 98th in 2001.

Sophomore Brittany Lane (Greenwich, NY) had the top finish for the Pioneers with a 65th place finish out of 243 runners with a time of 22:17, in the 6k race. Lane recorded the fastest 6000 meter cross country time in program history. Her clocking of 22:17.5 surpassed the incumbent school record of 22:23.0, which was set by Katie Wrinkle in 2000. Lane also improved 85 places upon her 150th place finish from last year, and was the top Northeast Conference finisher in the race. The next closest NEC finisher placed 99th. She also placed a full-minute ahead of the 2011 NEC individual champion (122nd in 23:17.7), and topped the 2010 NEC individual champion as well (145th in 23:38.8).

The Pioneers finished second out of NEC teams, only losing out to Qunnipiac who finished 20th. The Syracuse Orange were the 2011 Northeast Regional team winners.

For the Men, Christopher Connelly (Medford, NY) had the high finish for Sacred Heart finishing 77th out of 240 runners with a time of 33:08, in the 10k race. The two other Pioneer finishers were Jeffery Lusignan (East Montpelier, VT) in 96th place and Patrick Peterson (Gloversville, NY) in 230th place. The Syracuse Orange were also the Northeast Regional team champions on the Men's side.